About Me
I am a national award-winning journalist, having received the 2022 Folio:Eddie and Ozzie Award and the 2022 AZBEE national Bronze Award of Excellence and Mid-Atlantic Region Silver Award for my stories for an e-book for EMS World magazine, '9/11: 20 Years Later'. Journalism has been in my blood ever since I was in junior high school, where I served as the editor of the student newspaper. I went on to become the editor of my high school newspaper. During my senior year of high school, I landed a job at my hometown weekly newspaper - The Wyandotte News-Herald. From there, I attended Central Michigan University, where I worked as a copy editor and a reporter on the student newspaper, CM LIFE, and executed an internship at the Saginaw News until I graduated with honors and a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism, with minors in political science and psychology. I then took a job as a reporter at the now-defunct Scripps-Howard newspaper The Hollywood Sun-Tattler in Hollywood, Florida. After two years, I was hired at the Fort Lauderdale News and Sun-Sentinel (now called the South Florida Sun-Sentinel) where I covered politics, religion, human interest features and education. I won the Newsmaker Award from the Florida Teaching Profession/National Education Association for Distinguished News Coverage of Public Education in Florida. My work has also appeared in the award-winning PRIME and Water & Wastes Digest. In 1991, I established a business as a freelance writer and have developed specialties in B2B, writing primarily about first responders, dentistry, the environment,construction, infrastructure, school transportation, landscaping, and some consumer-facing articles. I have earned honors in the Cassell Network of Writers/Florida Freelance Writers Association writing competitions. I am a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Society of Environmental Journalists, the American Society of Business Publication Editors, and the Association of Health Care Journalists.
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Wyandotte (MI) News-Herald article on my book, "Empty Nest, Single Mother: Moving the Needle Toward a Re-Purposed Life" (Amazon)
Wyandotte native writes about letting go, finding purpose
By Sue Suchyta For The News-Herald (Sept. 25, 2018)
September is a month of change, and for single parents facing an empty nest, sadness and loss of purpose can be refocused to learning to let go and personal reinvention.
Wyandotte native and Florida transplant and author Carol Brzozowski has written, “Empty Nest, Single Parent – Moving the Needle Toward a Repurposed Life” to address an issue she experienced and felt was not well-covered in books on the market. It is available in paperback and on Kindle through Amazon.
Brzozowski said it is the time of year when many parents are packing their sons and daughters off to college, a move that creates many empty nests, which is challenging for single parents.
“Feelings of sadness, depression, grief and loss of purpose can be difficult for single parents,” Brzozowski said. “The book affirms readers' emotions about letting go and moving on to create a life of their own.”
She said the book addresses the challenges of living alone, de-junking a house, emotional and physical health, finances, dating and establishing an adult relationship with offspring.
“I saw a void in the publishing industry for books that spoke to someone in my situation,” Brzozowski said. “I saw a lot of pain with other women going through the same thing, even the ones who still have a spouse under the roof, because that is also a time that challenges a marriage.”
She said she saw the void and started categorizing some of the issues, including the changing relationships with adult children and the continued desire to nurture something, which is why she got a dog, she said with a laugh.
“I hated to see people in such pain,” Brzozowski said. “I know it is not necessary, and I've seen people reinvent their lives incredibly.”
She said she recently took up freestyle swimming after doing synchronized swimming while a student at Wyandotte Roosevelt High School.
“This is an opportunity to really reinvent ourselves, and do things that we have been putting on hold for years,” Brzozowski said. “Sometimes we feel alone, isolated and that we are the only person going through this.”
She said as she watched other women struggle with the their empty nest, single parent stress, she knew she wanted to share ways they could persevere.
“There are some things they can't control, but those which we can control, we should,” Brzozowski said. “We don't want our adult children to be concerned about taking care of us if we can do something about it.”
She said by exploring new interests, one can discover exciting things about oneself.
“There is a whole chapter in the book that talks about their changing role and our changing role,” Brzozowski said. “I learned when I went to a university parent orientation that the roles actually flip later on it life, way later in life, where they start to take care of us. To the extent that I can, I will be independent for as long as I can.”
She said the adult relationship parents can build with their offspring can be wonderful, and as an empty nest single parent reinvents themselves, it can lead in unexpected directions.
“We don't have to be self-limiting, we can actually go beyond what we thought we could do,” Brzozowski said, adding that part of the adjustment from taking care of others to being on your own is the changing pace of life.
“I do think there is a fear of being alone, but interestingly some people do like being alone for once,” Brzozowski said. “But they also crave company. My hairstylist said, 'Accept every social invitation you get, because you don't know where it will lead.'”
She said she began to exercise and do yoga when she no longer had children to focus on, and she selected meals based on what she wanted, not necessarily what her sons wanted to eat.
Brzozowski said as children transition to adulthood, there are ways relationships can continue while they go through change.
“One of my favorite sayings is that 'we give them roots and we give them wings,'” she said. “If we have done our job as a parent, we give them the roots of home, and they are always welcome here, and then we give them wings so they can go out on their own path.
“There is a big adjustment – it is hard to let go sometimes to the parenting tendencies. But I really relish the adult child role that I have with them. My sons are good cooks, I allow them to cook me a meal when they come back, instead of me rushing around to get something for them, and I like visiting them in their environment.”
Brzozowski said she loves the adult-to-adult role.
“I am always going to be mom, but now that relationship is changing,” she said. “I can say with pride that I did my job well. You want to equip them with skills so if you leave this planet early, they will be fine without panicking that you are not there to help out.”
Brzozowski said even people who aren't empty nest single parents can benefit from the book's advice on how to reinvent themselves when their adult children are launching their own lives.
She said that while the book addresses many issues, all empty nest single parents occasionally struggle with one of them.
“Some days are good days, and some days you have to go back to your base and see what you have to do to get from point A to point B,” Brzozowski said. “Socially sometimes it is hard, and every day presents challenges. But as I tell my friends, it just tells us that we are still alive.”
Brzozowski said her book is a quick read.
“It doesn't take a whole lot of time, and is easily digestible,” she said. “I not only talk about my experiences and all of these factors, but at the end I challenge the reader to take one action for their life, something that is going to move them forward. So everything ends with an encouragement to do that.”